The buck-tooth horseman panted breathlessly as flopped with exhaustion on top of his lover’s chest. “Y-your... You are very lucky... You’re so good with this,” said the blushing, similarly satisfied Asbjorn male below him. His voice, despite its attempt at a scold, did not have the force nor seriousness to have much effect. The horse beast-kin flopped to his side and rubbed his hair back while giving him an eye roll, “I nevar complained when you were screaming mah name.” Cherly looked away with embarrassment, as Rodney got as close as possible for a snuggle, “W-well, the heat of the moment excuses is valid.” Rodney gave him a sly grin, “Sure it does." He went to the cup of water by the side of the bed and gulp the whole glass down, "anyway, tired, gonna sleep.” He then face-planted into the pillow as Cherly gave him a deadpanned stare, “Classy, you know you could at least do some pillow talk or something sweet Rod.” The horseman peeked from the pillow, swished his long tail and said, “You smell like some fancy perfume... Does that make yah feel betta?” Cherly gleamed with pride, “obviously.” he gave Rodney a concerned look as he rubbed the temple of his forehead, “Rod, I can see you were tired when we started.” Rodney chuckled into the pillow, “Ay, concern for some labourer? ain’t like ma other employers.” His ears flopped down, “Even though it ain’t in ma job description. I had to be all involved in organising some meet and greet your brother has to go to this month.” He gave a yawn, “work and work for no pay cus, I’m just some dumb animal with a job.” He spatted out those words. Cherly sat up and looks over to Rodney, he could not help but feel concerned, “Tell me the names of these people and I would get them all fired on the spot.” Rodney shook his head, “Ain’t worth it. Plus, didn’t you want to keep things on the down-low... Act like them… til ya leave?” Despite his words still keeping their usual matter-of-fact tone. Cherly knew deep down, Rodney resented his lack of defence of him when confronted by others. Cherly had to put on a show until he could leave. “Rod,” He said, shaking the horseman’s shoulder, “I’m sorry... Just need one more year, then we can leave.” “And do what?” Rodney scratched behind his ear lazily as he slowly drifted off in his bed, “I need to know if ya have at least a long-term plan or somethang and not some pipe dream.” “A horse ranch,” Cherly said immediately, “We’ll train horses, ride them and sell them.” “I... I said no pipe dreams," Rodney said back at the boy as he scratched his stomach, "... but I guess that’s what I like about yah, Cher-Cher. Mouth full of sass and head full of sass.” Cherly let out a huff as Rodney drifted off to sleep. Cherly knew he would not possibly stay in his room like this for long without getting caught. Despite how sore his body was, he had to at least not make it obvious. He carefully put back on his clothes and trousers, regrettably tossed in passionate haste onto the floor earlier. He pressed his hands to remove the creases glimpsing at himself in the mirror. He felt pretty good about what he saw in the frame. Just your average 21-year-old guy. Funny how people like Rodney can make him feel so much better about these things way more than being sent to an all boy’s school ironically enough. At least some of his classmates were decent enough. He quietly exited the room and looked around. No one went by recently, which was good. He looked good, felt even better, and got away. Or so he thought until he heard that soft-spoken, impersonal voice behind him. “Hey, Cherly.” Cherly swiftly turned around to see thankfully and unfortunately his blond younger brother Holgar causing the man to jump from his sudden appearance. “H-Holgar!,” He sputtered before scolding, “Don’t sneak up on people like that. I swear I’m sure Uncle Richard would be very disappointed in you.” Holger gave his older brother a lazy shrug and said bluntly, “You... You just messed around with that stable hand... didn’t you?” Cherly covered Holger’s mouth and looked around to make sure no one was around to overhear them. “L-language, Holger, It’s not that.” “.... made love then?....” Cherly glared at his younger brother sternly, who despite his hair covering his eyes maybe have just rolled them, “Please tell me you will keep what I’m doing to yourself,” “Sure,” he answered, not paying much attention, “ain’t anyone’s business...you’re gonna be leaving here, anyway.” Cherly gave the boy a wary glance, “Hey, don’t get like that.” He was well aware of Holgar’s general disinterest in many things. Not that he blames him, but it would not hurt to ask him about the thing nagging on his mind over the past few days. Best he start simple, “anyway how're your classes going?” Holgar gave a dismissive shrug, “Don’t care,” Cherly groaned, not exactly as smooth as he wanted. Holgar folded his arms and said, “You want me to tell you if I think something’s off with Loukas... don’t you,” “Was I that obvious?” “Yeah ... I don’t know, never really talked with the guy that much.” “OH, come on, he's our brother, you guys should at least talk to each other at some point during the week.” Holger looked to the side and muttered, “He's your, Erna’s, and Enok’s brother... not mine.” Cherly was stunned, but simultaneously not surprised. The only reason Holger could stay in the manor after the affair got found out was because of Loukas. At least back then, when he would have defended them with both fury and pride. Honestly, what happened to his brother back then? As Cherly was about to say something to Holgar in return, a stuffy-looking man, an inch taller than Cherly, approached the two siblings. His clothes were navy blue robes and his loosely curled hair tied back into a messy bun. His face was long and forlorn as his gaze fell upon the two. Holger in his usual slowness turned toward the man whilst Cherly stood straight, giving off a cold clinical demeanour even as the man continued to make him more nervous. “Good evening Master Cherly Asbjorn and Holgar,” He said, his voice was of scratchy crumpled leaves. Cherly was about to comment on his clear dismissal of his younger brother, only for Holger to shake his head with a complete air of indifference. “And who in the world are you? Speak now or I’ll be sending you on your way,” the young man said with a huff. The old gentleman took off his cap, revealing his bald head and sombre eyes. “Its... It’s about your Auntie Laura,” He said grimly. The two brothers froze in their spots. “H-how... How did you?” The man shook his head, “Laura... was not a traitor..” His eyes grew harsh, “I know something is off, but I believe she was murdered.” Cherly’s blood ran cold. Murder? His Aunt.. why? Who could have done this? She was flawed, but she was the few who gave a damn about the other siblings that were not Loukas. She took care of them, raised them, and was always there to help them. He turned to Holger, whose usually relaxed demeanour changed to one of rigidity. Underneath his blond bangs, Cherly could tell his eye were intensely staring into the man The older man reached into his pocket, pulling out a charred black-grey necklace of Chromium metal, although warped, it was still clearly her’s. “I found this dangling out of a furnace vent…” Cherly was speechless. What could he even say to this? A murder on Asbjorn grounds. He saw Holgar was already taking his phone to contact the police, only for the man to grab the boy’s hand hastily. “Wait!” Cherly was having none of this nonsense he took out his phone, “Wait? how about no?” he barked back. “Listen, boys, the killers may have gotten the Heir Loukas involved... only he, no one else could have gotten all this setup.” .... what.... Those words silenced the two boys. Cherly’s phone dropped from his hand and landed on the ground with a heavy thud. No... It couldn’t be... Holgar stared silently. It could not have. Loui... Loui would never do something so awful. “He was tricked… wasn’t he,” Cherly was shaking with anger, anger directed at the ones who used his dumb older brother’s naivety and good nature to get him involved with this atrocity. The older man must have felt the aura of wrath as he took a step back and said to them, “That’s for many of us to find out... We still need a close eye on him... We need to keep the perpetrators' influence away from him and bring them to justice.” Keep an eye? Was Cherly not doing that anyway? Loukas..... you could not have done this... right? The man finally said those heavy words to him, "We do not want another murder in our home."her murder in our home."